Existing occupant safety systems for traditional, one- two- or three-row vehicles, such as restraints including seatbelts and airbags, can reduce the risk of injury during a collision. Vehicular airbags often use interior components such as dash panels, roof rails, and steering wheels both for packaging purposes and to provide reaction surfaces to interact with the airbags to produce the necessary reaction force. In the absence of adequate reaction surfaces or tethers, airbags may deflect too much to adequately protect an occupant during a collision.
In non-traditional vehicle designs, for example, where rows of occupants face each other within the passenger compartment or where the vehicle is designed without roof rails, there are limited options for reaction surfaces and tethers. New approaches to airbag-based occupant safety systems are thus desired.